A Novel in a Year: A Novelist's Guide to Being a Novelist
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Product Description
Victoria Hislop
'A breathtakingly honest and down-to-earth guide to writing a
novel, encouraging and inspirational' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
novel, encouraging and inspirational' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Jill Dawson
'Does for fiction writing what Lynne Truss did for punctuation. If
you only buy one book about the novel-writing process, make it this'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
you only buy one book about the novel-writing process, make it this'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
67 of 71 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is a collection of weekly columns published in the Telegraph throughout 2006. At the time of writing this review the columns are still available to read on that newspaper's website. I was unaware of this when I bought the book and confess that I felt a bit grumpy at having shelled out for material I could have downloaded or printed off for free.
Anyway, leaving my chagrin aside, I began to read. The bones of the book are a series of exercises - 26 in all, one per fortnight. The intervening chapters contain advice from the author on the topic being covered, anecdotes from her own writing life and examples of the results of the exercises, selected from the many posted throughout 2006 to message boards (still viewable) on the website.
Exercises 1-8 are `idea-generating' and aim at simply assembling some material to work with. The writing subjects are unrelated to each other so you may end up with a random assemblage. The theory is that this should help you figure out roughly what you want to write about.
Exercise 9 asks you to summarise succinctly the plot of your novel.
Doughty then tells you to clear the decks for a ten-week intensive writing onslaught centred, in exercises 10-15, weeks 20 to 30, on your main character. You write a CV for her, create scenes where she is under stress, show what she wants from life and how she overcomes obstacles. I felt that this was the most focussed part of the book. It's also familiar territory if you've read these kinds of books before.
The later exercises cover technique. At this point, the author's sense of direction seemed to waver. `Some of the exercises that follow may prompt you to write episodes of your novel but it is important that you are also working on your book independently of the exercises...' she says, which I found rather confusing.
Doughty calls her own approach `disorganised' and `oblique'. If you dislike the idea of meticulous outlines or lengthy lists of character attributes you might find her approach refreshing. `Often, the only way to discover what happens next is to start writing and see what comes' she says.
For me, only time will tell whether this book will be useful in my quest to Finally Sit Down And Write the Novel. In the meantime I'll give it four stars and the benefit of the doubt. I also own 'the Weekend Novelist' by Robert J. Ray, which also uses the time-frame of a year but takes a much more meticulously structured approach. I'm hoping the two together may be a winning combination.
Anyway, leaving my chagrin aside, I began to read. The bones of the book are a series of exercises - 26 in all, one per fortnight. The intervening chapters contain advice from the author on the topic being covered, anecdotes from her own writing life and examples of the results of the exercises, selected from the many posted throughout 2006 to message boards (still viewable) on the website.
Exercises 1-8 are `idea-generating' and aim at simply assembling some material to work with. The writing subjects are unrelated to each other so you may end up with a random assemblage. The theory is that this should help you figure out roughly what you want to write about.
Exercise 9 asks you to summarise succinctly the plot of your novel.
Doughty then tells you to clear the decks for a ten-week intensive writing onslaught centred, in exercises 10-15, weeks 20 to 30, on your main character. You write a CV for her, create scenes where she is under stress, show what she wants from life and how she overcomes obstacles. I felt that this was the most focussed part of the book. It's also familiar territory if you've read these kinds of books before.
The later exercises cover technique. At this point, the author's sense of direction seemed to waver. `Some of the exercises that follow may prompt you to write episodes of your novel but it is important that you are also working on your book independently of the exercises...' she says, which I found rather confusing.
Doughty calls her own approach `disorganised' and `oblique'. If you dislike the idea of meticulous outlines or lengthy lists of character attributes you might find her approach refreshing. `Often, the only way to discover what happens next is to start writing and see what comes' she says.
For me, only time will tell whether this book will be useful in my quest to Finally Sit Down And Write the Novel. In the meantime I'll give it four stars and the benefit of the doubt. I also own 'the Weekend Novelist' by Robert J. Ray, which also uses the time-frame of a year but takes a much more meticulously structured approach. I'm hoping the two together may be a winning combination.
Format:Paperback
this book is not just on how to do, but a coach to daily writing. And what's best than learning by doing?!
Format:Hardcover
Although you would be disappointed to realise you won't have a completed polished novel by the end of the year, nevertheless it will equip you with a right mindset and realistic expectations. The problem for many hopeful writers, myself included, is that at times they don't know where to start and how to proceed. Help is at hand as the book is there to rescue you and save you from falling into trap thinking it was time to stop. Persistence is what you need, so does this book!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Now, if I can just get started!
This is a very sensible approach to helping getting you started on that great English novel you've always dreamed of writing. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Mrs. Susan Desrosiers
AUTHOR GUIDE
A Novel in a Year: A Novelist's Guide to Being a NovelistI have long strived to become a published author, and although I had been aware of this book, I hadn't seen it in a shop. Read more
Published 19 months ago by strange love
Inspiring!
I highly recommend this book! If you have any interest in writing a novel but have thought that you couldn't, you don't have time, you don't know what to write about, or anything... Read more
Published on 3 Mar 2010 by R. Fisher
One of the best
One of the very best books for writers that has been published recently. Louise Doughty is a professional who gives generously of her knowledge and knows how to inspire. Read more
Published on 2 Feb 2009 by Lee
Great!
filled with tips and excersies to get you started, this is the guide for any wannabe writer. I was bought this book being a ver amatauer writer myself, and found it so helpful.
Published on 30 Sep 2007 by Bj Lucas
Listmania!
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